When Randy Travis first emerged on the country scene in the '80s he was hailed as a "new traditionalist" whose obvious reverence for the sound of classic country artists like George Jones was a breath of fresh air amid the diluted country-pop sounds that had become so prevalent. It's an interesting comment on the state of mainstream country that more than 15 years later, he performs pretty much the same function as an alternative to a whole new crop of hat-wearers. What's all the more remarkable is that this time around he does so with a Christian-themed album. In 2002, many think of Christian music as the domain of Bill & Gloria Gaither et al, but vintage country artists like Jones, Johnny Cash, and Merle Haggard have catalogs filled with spiritual albums. Now Travis joins them with RISE & SHINE. While a few tunes get slow and sentimental (never a minus on the country scorecard anyway), Travis spend much of the album delivering house-rocking honky-tonk paeans to faith such as "Everywhere We Go," "I'm Ready," and the title song." All these year's later, it's as obvious as ever that the man's got style.